Bernickow: From messenger to leading union activist
MORE often than not the measure of a man or woman’s contribution to the well-being of society, or mankind for that matter, can be gauged by who says what about him or her.
In the case of the late Ronald “Bernie” Bernickow, yesterday’s moving tribute by Deputy State President Cyril Ramaphosa speaks volumes about the committed trade unionist, labour movement activist and Western Cape Chapter of Independent Media’s Ombud Appeals Panel representative, who died last Monday after battling cancer.
“We have lost a giant who served the workers of our country and the labour movement with humble distinction. The historic Nedlac agreement reached by social partners benefited greatly from the facilitation undertaken by Bernie, who brought his vast experience as a seasoned negotiator to bear on this important national task,” said Ramaphosa.
“Bernie will be greatly missed by all those alongside whom he worked tirelessly to build a better South Africa and improve the working and social conditions of South Africa’s working class. I offer my sincere condolences to his family, friends and comrades.”
Most recently, Bernickow served as National Senior Commissioner: Operations at the CCMA.
Starting in the early 1980s as a Media Workers’ Association of South Africa (Mwasa) organiser in the Western Cape, he held various organising and leadership roles in the labour movement.
I first met Bernie at the end of 1980, when he was a messenger at the Cape Argus, with myself and current Cape Argus editor, Aziz Hartley, both working as messengers at the Cape Times.
We had just joined Mwasa at the time of the country’s first newspaper industry strike that started at the now defunct Cape Herald and spread to the Cape Argus, the Cape Times and Johannesburg’s Star and Sowetan newspapers.
Our willingness to be recruited into Mwasa by its strike-leading journalists – Aneez Salie, Rashied Seria, Moegsien Williams and Zubeida Jaffer – who are now senior managers in the media and other industries, was motivated by our abhorrence of apartheid.
What had struck me most about Bernie was his courage in leaving a secure but low-paying position for a Mwasa organiser’s job that saw him scrutinised by apartheid’s security police, who had little qualms in “permanently removing” political or trade union opponents of apartheid.
It was during that period that I saw Bernie’s skills and potential as a negotiator and administrator start to flourish under the guidance of Salie, Seria and Williams.
Years after we had parted company, I asked for his help in 2007, when the Argus company for whom I had worked for about 40 years, slapped me with a disciplinary charge that claimed I had brought the company into disrepute.
Needless to say, we won my case, which had constituted one of the most traumatic experiences of my life.
Williams recalled Bernie as someone who “showed a natural empathy and feel for workers’ issues, characteristics he displayed the rest of his working life”.
Williams also credited Bernie with having taught activist journalists a number of lessons at the time. “In hindsight, Bernie had a hand in all of this by his recruitment of, among others, Hartley. Of course, he also had an influence on the life of Mwasa official Salie, our erstwhile military commander and now the editor of the Cape Times”. His memorial service will be held tomorrow at the Cornerstone Institute, Salt River.